The retirement of three longtime edit staffers at The Daily Advertiser leaves an enormous hole to fill. Three of The Daily Advertiser's longtime newsroom employees - a wealth of institutional knowledge - have accepted early retirement offers and will leave the company mid-month. Departing are sports writer Bruce Brown, photographer Brad Kemp and Photo Editor Peter Piazza, according to a Sunday story in the paper.
In February The Independent reported that the paper's parent company, Gannett Co., had extended the retirement offer to 665 eligible U.S. Community Publishing employees at least 56 years old with 20 years or more of service. Bob Dickey, president of the company's U.S. newspaper division, said in a memo at the time that the offer was designed to be as attractive as or better than others in the industry, providing for salary continuation of two weeks' pay for each complete year of service, capped at 52 weeks, and ongoing health, dental and vision coverage during this period.
Eligible employees had 45 days to accept the offer.
Two advertising employees - Brenda Morvant and Debbie Credeur - will also be retiring, according to the newspaper.
Brown, who has been with the Advertiser for 37 years, having previously served as sports editor for two decades, is the newspaper's most senior staffer. Piazza got his start as a photographer in 1973, and Kemp started in 1988.
Read the Sunday story here.